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Natura Viva Cc Fig. 36. Poorly-Sorted Downwasted Sandstone

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Natura Viva Cc Fig. 36. Poorly-Sorted Downwasted Sandstone 1 Fig. 36. Poorly-sorted downwasted sandstone gravels capping Balfour Formation bedrocks, hill crest site on Klipfonteyn 150 (Loc. 234). 4. PALAEONTOLOGICAL HERITAGE WITHIN THE STUDY REGION The overall palaeontological sensitivity of the Beaufort Group sediments is high (Almond et al. 2008). These continental sediments have yielded one of the richest fossil records of land-dwelling plants and animals of Permo-Triassic age anywhere in the world. A chronological series of mappable fossil biozones or assemblage zones (AZ), defined mainly on their characteristic tetrapod faunas, has been established for the Main Karoo Basin of South Africa (Rubidge 1995). Maps showing the distribution of the Beaufort assemblage zones within the Main Karoo Basin have been provided by Keyser and Smith (1977-1978) (Fig. 37) and Rubidge (1995), and for the Graaff-Reinet sheet area they are available in Hill (1993). According to the latest biozonation map produced by Van der Walt et al. (2010) the Nojoli study area to the east of Cookhouse lies largely or entirely within the Cistecephalus Assemblage Zone (Fig. 38). John E. Almond (2014) Natura Viva cc 2 Fig. 37. Distribution of Beaufort Group fossil assemblage zones in the Graaff- Reinet sheet area (After Keyser & Smith 1977-78). The Nojoli Wind Farm study area to the east of Cookhouse, indicated by the red circle, lies largely in the Cistecephalus Assemblage Zone (previously known as the Aulacephalodon – Cistecephalus Zone) (Compare following figure). Note the absence of earlier fossil vertebrate records from this particular area of the Great Karoo. Fossil vertebrate remains appear to be surprisingly rare in the Lower Beaufort Group outcrop area near Cookhouse compared to similar-aged deposits further west within the Great Karoo (Almond 2010, 2013c). The important compendium of Karoo fossil faunas by Kitching (1977) lists numerous finds from the Cistecephalus Assemblage Zone near Pearston, some 75 km to the WNW of the study area. A few therapsid genera - the dicynodonts Emydops and Cistecephalus plus the therocephalian Ictidosuchoides – are reported from Bruintjieshoogte, between Pearston and Somerset East, although fossils are recorded as rare even here, despite the excellent level of exposure. Sparse dicynodonts are also mentioned from Bedford, c. 30km to the ENE of Cookhouse. Fossils of the long-ranging, small, communal burrowing dicynodont Diictodon are recorded from Slaghtersnek to the south of Cookhouse (precise location not provided, Kitching 1977, p. 66). John E. Almond (2014) Natura Viva cc 3 Cookhouse Fig. 38. Extract from the most recent fossil assemblage zone map for the Main Karoo Basin showing the main biozone represented in the Nojoli Wind Farm study area between Cookhouse and Bedford (black circle), viz. the Cistecephalus Assemblage Zone (lilac) (Map modified from Van der Walt et al. 2010). Apart from a few isolated postcranial bone fragments, no vertebrate remains were found within the Lower Beaufort Group sediments during recent palaeontological field studies for wind farm projects near Cookhouse and Bedford by De Klerk (2010) and Durand (2012). A limited number of well-preserved dicynodont skulls (probably Oudenodon, Diictodon) as well as scattered postcranial therapsid remains, sphenophytes (horsetail ferns), locally abundant silicified wood (some showing insect borings), and low diversity assemblages of horizontal burrows (including Scoyenia arthropod scratch burrows) were recorded from the Middleton Formation in the Cookhouse – Middleton area during recent palaeontological field studies by the author (Almond 2010b, 2011, 2013c). A couple of poorly-preserved therapsid tracks are also recorded from this succession near Middleton (Prof. Bruce Rubidge, pers. comm., and Almond 2011, 2013c). The recent discovery of a specimen of the rare, turtle-like parareptile Eunotosaurus in the same area supports the assignation of the lower Middleton Formation succession to the Pristerognathus John E. Almond (2014) Natura Viva cc 4 Assemblage Zone, correlated with the Poortjie Member of the Teekloof Formation of the western Main Karoo Basin (Day et al. 2013). The reason for the comparative scarcity of fossil material within the Beaufort beds near Cookhouse is unknown. It might be related to the area’s southern, high palaeolatitudinal position within the N-S orientated Main Karoo Basin. The comparative scarcity of richly calcretized pedogenic horizons, gypsum pseudomorphs, desiccation cracks and maroon mudrocks may suggest colder, wetter climates here. The paucity of coarse clastic material, the rarity of deeply erosive channel bases within the river systems, the soft- sediment deformation seen at some channel sandstone bases, and the high proportion of ferruginous and pyritic calcrete nodules possibly suggest distal, swampy environments that may have been less conducive to terrestrial wildlife. Reducing conditions within the basinal mudrocks, as indicated by the common occurrence of pyrite within sandstones and secondary nodules, would have favoured the preservation of plant material, such as wood, over vertebrate bones and teeth. This is all highly speculative, however! 4.1. Middleton Formation The Middleton Formation comprises portions of three successive Beaufort Group fossil assemblage zones (AZ) that are largely based on the occurrence of specific genera and species of fossil therapsids. These are, in order of decreasing age, the Pristerognathus, Tropidostoma and Cistecephalus Assemblage Zones (Rubidge 1995). The three biozones have been assigned to the Wuchiapingian Stage of the Late Permian Period, with an approximate age range of 260-254 million years (Rubidge 2005). According to published maps showing the distribution of the Beaufort assemblage zones within the Main Karoo Basin (Keyser & Smith 1979, Hill 1993, Rubidge 1995), the upper Middleton Formation succession to the east of Cookhouse lies within the Cistecephalus Assemblage Zone (= upper Cistecephalus Biozone or Aulacephalodon-Cistecephalus Assemblage Zone of earlier authors; see table 2.2 in Hill 1993 and Fig. 38 herein). John E. Almond (2014) Natura Viva cc 5 Fig. 39. Skulls of characteristic fossil vertebrates from the Cistecephalus Assemblage Zone (From Keyser & Smith 1977-1978). Pareiasaurus a large herbivore, and Owenetta, a small insectivore, are true reptiles. The remainder are therapsids or “mammal-like reptiles”. Of these, Gorgonops and Dinogorgon are large flesh-eating gorgonopsians, Ictidosuchoides is an insectivorous therocephalian, while the remainder are small – to large-bodied herbivorous dicynodonts. The following major categories of fossils might be expected within Cistecephalus AZ sediments in the study area (Keyser & Smith 1979, Anderson & Anderson 1985, Hill 1993, Smith & Keyser in Rubidge 1995, MacRae 1999, Cole et al., 2004, Almond et al. 2008): isolated petrified bones as well as rare articulated skeletons of terrestrial vertebrates such as true reptiles (notably large herbivorous pareiasaurs, small insectivorous owenettids) and therapsids or “mammal-like reptiles” (e.g. diverse herbivorous dicynodonts, flesh-eating gorgonopsians, and insectivorous therocephalians) (Fig. 39) aquatic vertebrates such as large temnospondyl amphibians (Rhinesuchus, usually disarticulated), and palaeoniscoid bony fish (Atherstonia, Namaichthys, often represented by scattered scales rather than intact fish) freshwater bivalves (Palaeomutela) trace fossils such as worm, arthropod and tetrapod burrows and trackways, coprolites (fossil droppings) John E. Almond (2014) Natura Viva cc 6 vascular plant remains including leaves, twigs, roots and petrified woods (“Dadoxylon”) of the Glossopteris Flora (usually sparse, fragmentary), especially glossopterid trees and arthrophytes (horsetails). As far as the biostratigraphically important tetrapod remains are concerned, the best fossil material is generally found within overbank mudrocks, whereas fossils preserved within channel sandstones tend to be fragmentary and water-worn (Rubidge 1995, Smith 1993). Many fossils are found in association with ancient soils (palaeosol horizons) that can usually be recognised by bedding-parallel concentrations of calcrete nodules. No fossil vertebrate remains were recorded from the limited Middleton Formation exposures examined in the Nojoli Wind Farm study area. Angular blocks of reworked, well-preserved petrified wood were recorded from colluvial gravels on the lower escarpment slopes on Bavians Krantz 151 (Loc. 249, 250, 251, 253) and on Rooy Draai 146 (Loc. 252) (Fig. 34). However, since the wood material was never seen in situ within Lower Beaufort sediments, it remains unclear whether the fossil wood fragments recorded in this area are derived from the Middleton Formation itself or, perhaps more likely, are downwasted from channel sandstones of the overlying Oudeberg Member at the base of the Balfour Formation. 4.2. Balfour Formation The sandstone-dominated Oudeberg Member at the base of the Balfour Formation is also assigned to the Cistecephalus Assemblage Zone (Rubidge 1995) whose fossil biota has been treated above. The Assemblage Zone to which the overlying Daggaboersnek Member, whose occurrence within the Nojoli Wind Farm study area has not yet been unequivocally established, should be assigned is less clear (Cole et al., 2004). Le Roux and Keyser (1988) report Cistecephalus AZ fossils from this member in the Victoria West sheet area, whereas the Daggaboersnek Member in the Middelburg sheet area is assigned to the Dicynodon Assemblage
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